CDL:

Commercial Driver's License (CDL)

A CDL is required to drive any of the following vehicles:

Any combination of vehicles with a gross combined weight rating (GCWR) of 26,001 or more pounds, providing the gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of the vehicle being towed is in excess of 10,000 pounds.

Any single vehicle with a GVWR of 26,001 or more pounds, or any such vehicle towing another not in excess of 10,000 pounds.

Any vehicle, regardless of size, designed to transport 16 or more persons, including the driver.

Any vehicle required by federal regulations to be placarded while transporting hazardous materials.

Yeah i saw it. it is a bunch of crap. whether on paper or on E logs the law is the same. all these people are doing is admitting they have been driving illegally for years.

I do agree with getting rid of the 14 hour rule, because i am a napper. i would feel more rested after a few hours sleep then driving then a few hours sleep. this is one of the reasons i use the 8/2 splits as much as i do.

As far as the argument of them losing money $25,000 per year do to.losing loads .give me a break. if they got those loads on paper, they were doing it illegally. also the drivers complaining they have to pay for the units and their "employers do not". they are owner ops and this is an expense of being an owner. they do not have an employer. they are the boss. they wanted it, now they want to complain.

Dm:

Dispatcher, Fleet Manager, Driver Manager

The primary person a driver communicates with at his/her company. A dispatcher can play many roles, depending on the company's structure. Dispatchers may assign freight, file requests for home time, relay messages between the driver and management, inform customer service of any delays, change appointment times, and report information to the load planners.

It’s really looking like a majority of them are spending money they don’t need to be spending due to lack of research.

There problem really sits on the fact that on paper logs for the last 40 years they’ve been running illegal and running the prices down to near free...

Now they have to run legal but can’t make money bbfollowing the rules.

I hope they go the right route.

RUN LEGAL and DONT CUT PRICES

It’s their own aftermath. They should have seen it coming.

Hard work should have never entailed running 72 Hours non-stop and fudging log books. It should have been in customer service and reliability, learning new ways to be efficient due diligence perseverance.

Never should it have been called hard work when all you did was try to fix the lies behind the paper keeping two books and just lieing lieing lieing and starting to believe their own lies.

Now they lied so much they ruined the industry. Sorry this really bothers me though.

Where I’m running right now they want you to run 23 hour days (local) go home shower and run another 23 hours. I’m not joking. I tell em their crazy. They say that’s the only way to make a living in this line of work. (Wages haven’t changed since early 1990s) So instead of saying hey we need more money and explaining why... they try to find ways to make life even harder and harder...

And Now the EDL is going to be the tell all and hopefully it will open a new opportunity here and there for the little guys once the rates start to go up.

They ask to change the law instead of more money to do the right thing...

OWI:

In my opinion the ELD problem is not with the drivers, it’s with the gov’t and companies that rolled this out when they were not really ready. The gov’t in many cases has admitted they are not ready. There are more parts to this rule them merly having the units in the trucks. Also vendors seemed to come out of the woodwork because they saw dollar signs. And those were huge for sure. Even some of the early big providers have been having some issues because their servers were not ready for the influx of information. Even though everyone knew this was coming the gov’t nor anyone else used their time wisely to ensure a smooth transition.

Now the problems that alot are blaming the ELD for is the HOS. I agree with Rainy those folks were spolied rotten doing things they way they choose too and then made it look legal, which is wrong on many levels. They can’t seem to make money simply because they have never been forced into good solid time management, so they lack the skills too do it now, because the computer tells on them.

Anyway I don’t mind the mandate near as much as I mind the selectiveness of who has to fully comply and who doesn’t. Maybe I just look at it in too simple of terms. But if the gov’t isn’t in complete complaince then they shouldn’t force the drivers too be fully compliant. What’s good for one should be good for all involved.

I won’t even get on my soapbox about the waivers fmcsa has handed out

CSA:

Compliance, Safety, Accountability (CSA)

The CSA is a Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) initiative to improve large truck and bus safety and ultimately reduce crashes, injuries, and fatalities that are related to commercial motor vehicle

FMCSA:

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

The FMCSA was established within the Department of Transportation on January 1, 2000. Their primary mission is to prevent commercial motor vehicle-related fatalities and injuries.

What Does The FMCSA Do?

Commercial Drivers' Licenses

Data and Analysis

Regulatory Compliance and Enforcement

Research and Technology

Safety Assistance

Support and Information Sharing

Dm:

Dispatcher, Fleet Manager, Driver Manager

The primary person a driver communicates with at his/her company. A dispatcher can play many roles, depending on the company's structure. Dispatchers may assign freight, file requests for home time, relay messages between the driver and management, inform customer service of any delays, change appointment times, and report information to the load planners.

Fm:

Dispatcher, Fleet Manager, Driver Manager

The primary person a driver communicates with at his/her company. A dispatcher can play many roles, depending on the company's structure. Dispatchers may assign freight, file requests for home time, relay messages between the driver and management, inform customer service of any delays, change appointment times, and report information to the load planners.

HOS:

Hours Of Service

HOS refers to the logbook hours of service regulations.

OOS:

When a violation by either a driver or company is confirmed, an out-of-service order removes either the driver or the vehicle from the roadway until the violation is corrected.

Drivers have also experienced increased expenses and economic adversity. For example, 53 percent of those who had purchased an ELD were required to pay an initial upfront cost....

Moreover, 55 percent of those who had purchased a device were required to pay a monthly fee ($33-$40).

Participants estimated that ELDs would decrease their annual income by a median of $25,000 due to missed loads and delays.

“I have never been put out of service for a logbook violation, yet I’m required now to run an ELD.”

Upfront cost: yeah, the startup fee. It's a standard practice to pay for getting an account set up. Boo hoo"

$25,000 in lost business: This sounds like exaggeration, and an artificially pessimistic forecast of something they have not experienced. Waaaa!

"I was OK, and with a new law I can't do that any more": Aw shucks, Sherlock. Most laws to add a new limit on your life, one way or another.

This survey was collected from owner operators. Of course they want to complain on limits to their lifestyle Besides removing fiction writers from making their logs, as noted, these people now must cut back their hours/miles to fit the actual requirements. As a Swift driver (three years), I have always lived with real HOS "restrictions" and a ELD recording system. yet I got all the miles that could fit into 11 hours on the road per day.

more costs for the driver that the employer won’t pick up

Let me see ... If you are an O/O, then you're basically in business for yourself. So the government requires a new device/system, etc. How is it that a businessman can shift the cost of doing business to another company?? Trucking is already cutthroat competitive. No way to raise what you charge for business.

The biggest laugher for me is the whining about [being forced] " to combat rush-hour traffic, and not having sufficient parking are all results of the new mandate". This is all in when you start your day. Maybe it's better to start your operations very early in the morning. You may lose daylight if you start at 3am, but parking will never be a problem when you pull in for the day at noon.

Logbook:

A written or electronic record of a driver's duty status which must be maintained at all times. The driver records the amount of time spent driving, on-duty not driving, in the sleeper berth, or off duty. The enforcement of the Hours Of Service Rules (HOS) are based upon the entries put in a driver's logbook.

Owner Operator:

An owner-operator is a driver who either owns or leases the truck they are driving. A self-employed driver.

Actually parking even at noon is indeed becoming insane...not just because of the elogs but because many of the TA and Petro are becoming mostly paid reserve spots. Little Rock Petro painted reserve on my spot while i was parked in it. the drivers might not have been prepared for this, but the truck stops sure were.

Cartersville GA TA was a place i could usually find parking even if i had to pay for it. go in there now at noon and they are already filling the free spots and getting creative to avoid paying for the reserved.

Elog:

Electronic Onboard Recorder

Electronic Logbook

A device which records the amount of time a vehicle has been driven. If the vehicle is not being driven, the operator will manually input whether or not he/she is on duty or not.

Elogs:

Electronic Onboard Recorder

Electronic Logbook

A device which records the amount of time a vehicle has been driven. If the vehicle is not being driven, the operator will manually input whether or not he/she is on duty or not.

Mom said no cookies. Mom walks in, there are no cookies left. Crumbs. She knows the crumbs are cookie crumbs and they are on my shirt... but she can’t really prove it was me that ate them and it’s just speculation really... she thinks she saw crumbs from cookies but it coulda been anything I’ll be ok I’m not in trouble...

The next day...

Mom said no cookies. They sure look good. BUZZ BUZZ what the heck mom put a buzzer on the lid to warn me. :( I can get one close it and the buzzer will turn off and by the time she gets here there’s no proof it was me :) I’m not in trouble...

The next day...

Why did you put a camera there! That’s is not right! That takes away my freedom to break your rules without being caught red handed! That is not fair! Not fair at all. Totally unfair I’d rather have my birthday taken away and never see another Christmas. I don’t ever have to go to the park again just please I’m begging you take the camera and buzzer away.

Mom said no cookies. Mom walks in, there are no cookies left. Crumbs. She knows the crumbs are cookie crumbs and they are on my shirt... but she can’t really prove it was me that ate them and it’s just speculation really... she thinks she saw crumbs from cookies but it coulda been anything I’ll be ok I’m not in trouble...

The next day...

Mom said no cookies. They sure look good. BUZZ BUZZ what the heck mom put a buzzer on the lid to warn me. :( I can get one close it and the buzzer will turn off and by the time she gets here there’s no proof it was me :) I’m not in trouble...

i woke yesterday morning at 0400. Was at the yard and assigned a load that was coming in later. It finally arrived at 1600 and needed the trailer fixed. By the time I got out of the terminal and drove a few hours it was 2000. I slept 2 hours, then drove until 0430. I did 440 total miles before shutting down again. This time i slept 3 hours, and now im wide awake and perfectly safe to drive....but i cant because although i have 3 hours of drive time left, that 14 hr clock ticked away. Now i can try to lay here to complete the 8 in the sleeper. At that point i will get back roughly 5 hours (11 hrs drive time minus the 6 hours i drove between the 2hr and 8hr sleeper breaks). After driving that 5 hrs, i can then do a 2hr break and get back 6hrs of drive time.

Just imagine me having to wait the entire 10 hours? By that time i would have already been up 7 hours wide awake. that is a sucky way to start the day.

so i vote to eliminate that 14 hr clock. but even with ELD, i was able to sleep and drive legally when i wanted to. so those people doing all that complaining..well...i am not sure if it is ignorance, resistance to change, or just hurt pride at being told what to do.

the more i thought about the operations costs, the more i thought they should be complaining about loan interest, insurance, and fuel tax. Those are much bigger expenses than the ELD.

Lets here it boys!!! Down with insurance!! It costs too much! Vehicle maintenance shoukd be free to all! Heck, truck payments should be reduced to 50%!

Terminal:

A facility where trucking companies operate out of, or their "home base" if you will. A lot of major companies have multiple terminals around the country which usually consist of the main office building, a drop lot for trailers, and sometimes a repair shop and wash facilities.

Another survey. A sample size of only 2000 O/O, done by the Owner Operator Independent Driver Association. (OOIDA) So, this was a just a way for OOIDA to overstate reality.

The sample size is too small and the claims are unsubstantiated. The biggest point they make is all the people they surveyed spent so many years driving illegally, that they don't know how to follow the law. Booo hoooo. Those of us company drivers with big companies have always been on elogs. I guess it really does suck to be an owner operator.

Elog:

Electronic Onboard Recorder

Electronic Logbook

A device which records the amount of time a vehicle has been driven. If the vehicle is not being driven, the operator will manually input whether or not he/she is on duty or not.

Elogs:

Electronic Onboard Recorder

Electronic Logbook

A device which records the amount of time a vehicle has been driven. If the vehicle is not being driven, the operator will manually input whether or not he/she is on duty or not.

Owner Operator:

An owner-operator is a driver who either owns or leases the truck they are driving. A self-employed driver.

OOIDA:

Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association

Who They Are

OOIDA is an international trade association representing the interests of independent owner-operators and professional drivers on all issues that affect truckers. The over 150,000 members of OOIDA are men and women in all 50 states and Canada who collectively own and/or operate more than 240,000 individual heavy-duty trucks and small truck fleets.

Their Mission

The mission of OOIDA is to serve owner-operators, small fleets and professional truckers; to work for a business climate where truckers are treated equally and fairly; to promote highway safety and responsibility among all highway users; and to promote a better business climate and efficiency for all truck operators.

Preview:

Submit

Cancel

Click Anywhere To Close

Join Us!

We have an awesome set of tools that will help you understand the trucking industry and prepare for a great start to your trucking career. Not only that, but everything we offer here at TruckingTruth is 100% free - no strings attached! Sign up now and get instant access to our member's section:

Apply For Paid CDL Training Through TruckingTruth

Did you know you can fill out one quick form here on TruckingTruth and apply to several companies at once for paid CDL training? Seriously! The application only takes one minute. You will speak with recruiters today. There is no obligation whatsoever. Learn more and apply here:

About Us

TruckingTruth was founded by Brett Aquila (that's me!), a 15 year truck driving veteran, in January 2007. After 15 years on the road I wanted to help people understand the trucking industry and everything that came with the career and lifestyle of an over the road trucker. We'll help you make the right choices and prepare for a great start to your trucking career.

Becoming A Truck Driver

Becoming A Truck Driver is a dream we've all pondered at some point in our lives. We've all wondered if the adventure and challenges of life on the open road would suit us better than the ordinary day to day lives we've always known. At TruckingTruth we'll help you decide if trucking is right for you and help you get your career off to a great start.